The mechanical strength of disk shaped glass substrates is primarily determined by micro cracks existing at inner diameter edges. These cracks are typically on the order of 1 to 100 μm in depth. They are generated during machining processes such as coring or grinding to shape the chamfer edges of the substrates. Conventional treatments to improve the strength of glass substrates involve removing those cracks by polishing with a brush and ceria slurry, or by replacing the native alkaline ions such as Na or Li with bigger ions such as K in a molten salt bath using a process known as chemical strengthening. For chemical strengthening processes, generally only glass which has suitable composition of alkaline atoms can be used. Materials such as KNO3, NaNO3, or a combination thereof are commonly used for chemical strengthening. The above referenced ion implantation technique generally does not rely on the ion exchange. As such, glass with less alkaline ions can be treated, and these techniques can also be used to generate compressive stress without the ion exchange by immersing the glass article into a molten KOH or LiOH bath or by exposing the article to a vapor form of KOH or LiOH. However, these conventional processes are often expensive and somewhat inefficient. As such, an improved process for strengthening glass substrates is needed.